I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the many different press reports of the total despair engulfing the Republican party in Washington, D.C. and around the country. It’s amazing to see these people finally coming to grips with REALITY.

They’re obviously stunned, shocked, and disoriented, unable to figure out a way out of the quicksand they are now trapped in.

I like information. Much of it I know to take with a grain of salt and I come by that as someone who thinks they understand the difference between fantasy and reality. Sometimes it’s really not that clear of a distinction. Seriously, I can make the case that in this country we mostly live in a fantasy world and I think I could get at least 35% or more of the people to agree with me on any given day. Anyway that’s not what this is about. This is about the exit polls and the growing narrative that this could be a generational election.

Wow. So it’s come to this.

I always knew deep down that there was a possibility that I would cave to my better instincts and go with a winner. Jeez.

It’s been a bit spastic around here lately with competing thoughts about whether or not Hillary and Obama should merge their efforts for the Democratic Party and form the "Dream Ticket".

First let me say that in my view Barack and Hillary are essentially twins when it comes to policy prescriptions. Sure there is some divergence here and there, on the nature of health care mandates, gas tax holidays and of course, the infamous carrot to ditto-heads to obliterate Iran, but all in all, when I look at what I consider serious vs. what I consider politics, I just don’t see and never did see that much difference.

Nielsen Online has released the top 30 "news" sites on the web for the month of March and I was surprised to see Daily Kos near the top of the list. Really the truth is I was shocked to learn that there are so many people out there who still are not honoring the strike called for by some of the most ever celebrated "unique visitors" to daily kos.

The data below is from Nielsen Online on the top 30 sites in the "News" category based on March 2008 traffic. This data takes into account U.S. home and work Internet usage, and it shows both unique visitors to each brand or channel and sessions per person.  

Businessweek had this story up yesterday and it's linked on Drudge.

From Matt Vella of Businessweek:

The latest salvo in the Presidential hopeful's Web campaign is a site designed to process a million dollars in 60 seconds

Below are some snippets from the article:

I don't know if this has already been diaried but I use Politico's Super Delegate Tracker to follow the ins and outs of who's for who and this evening they jumped their number of Supers for Obama from 219 to 222.

I don't have anything important to say - just wanted to do my part to keep up the pace of nonsense that appears on this site from time to time.

In that spirit I thought I'd share a collection of late night jokes that have been accumulating over the campaign season. Each major candidate still in the race is covered below the fold though the jokes are in no special order. Enjoy.

I've been curious since the national head to head matchups between the named democratic and republican candidates show some differing margins what the second choice candidate is for people.

Sure, most democrats would never vote republican and most republicans would never vote for a democrat. There are, however, loads of people who vote for the candidate not the party. So I'm wondering not necessarily who people's first choice is but rather who is their second choice if their first choice does not get the nomination.

Full disclosure: I declared my support for Obama the morning after the New Hampshire primary. I have since contributed both money and effort to his campaign and will continue to do so. At this point I neither have nor anticipate having a second choice candidate so I should be considered a very strong supporter.

People pay varying degrees of attention to the campaigns and the news reporters and pundits covering the races. The most informed have likely made up their minds as to who they will support and will not be easily persuaded to jump ship. As you move further down the "informed" scale, persuasion becomes an easier task.

Someone who contributes to a campaign is also difficult to persuade into considering a different candidate. They have vested into their candidate of choice and no one likes to admit they may have made a poor judgment when making the investment. Those who have not contributed therefore are likely much more open to persuasion.

Polls suggest Americans are concerned primarily with a few key issues in the 2008 presidential election. USA TODAY researched candidate positions on those top issues — Iraq, immigration and health care — as well as a few others that may influence the election. We then came up with 11 multiple-choice questions that would help differentiate the candidates and their stances.

As you answer the questions, you can roll over each color bar below the candidates' heads to find background on their positions. Your answers are matched with the positions of the presidential hopefuls to reveal the candidate (or candidates) closest to your views. The sliders on the right allow you to assign relative weights to match the importance that you place on each issue.

http://www.usatoday.com/...

Please Post your own results in the comments. Thanks & Have fun :)

In his post at TPM examining the exchange between the Obama and Clinton campaigns regarding the difference between Dr. Martin Luther King, the dreamer, and Lyndon Baines Johnson, the Legislator turned President, the comparison is further drawn between John F. Kennedy and LBJ.

"It's an ambiguous statement. But her reference is to different presidents -- Jack Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, one of whom inspired but did relatively little legislatively and Johnson who did a lot legislatively, though he was rather less than inspiring. Quite apart from the merits of Obama and Clinton, it's not a bad point about Kennedy and LBJ."...Josh Marshall

Well, maybe not everything, but loads and loads. Pretty pictures with all sorts of charts. Over 60 pages, so grab a cup of black plasma and enjoy. If you are among the few who are already rather well informed, never mind this post. Go about whatever it was you were doing. Sorry to distract you. For the rest, I found this to be very informative.

http://www.bcbs.com/...

Okay, I’ll make a prediction which I believe is tradable with the right money management application.

First, I have to admit, I do not know the severity of the current predicament regarding the so-called credit crisis. I’m making the assumption that everything that can be done will be done in an effort to minimize the damage to the economy and perhaps the pain in the financial system. I just don’t know if there is a whole lot that can be done that offers any real cure for what ails. As I see it, the housing ATM’s, if not closed, are surely running low on cash. And while I believe the inventory of unsold homes will likely resolve itself over time the supply glut reminds me of the tech bubble bursting in 2000. I am suspicious of the consumer confidence numbers and even more so the employment statistics. Realtors, the numbers of which is greater than one million, have to, I believe, be looking at substantially reduced paychecks. Homebuilding and all its supporting supply groups have a similar forecast.

I'm revealing my trading plan below the fold....

I've never written a diary before but this story caught my attention and since I haven't seen anyone else link to this blog I figured it was something worth doing.  In the comments of the blog you will see some feedback from some of the "friends" who are caught up in this story....

From Joe's Blog:

I want to be careful about this, but also I think it's unfair that they deleted this community when they could have left it up as an unofficial fan site as it has been for the last two and a half years. The campaign may say that this was my decision, and this is not true.

Since January, as you may know, and as many in the Myspace community know, I've been working on the page around the clock. I started this profile in November of 2004 and it grew steadily since then. In January and February the media started to notice, and I began to work even harder because I reallized what an impact the Myspace could really have.

There's more....